Saturday, June 4, 2011

Press Release – ACES/American Crocodile Education Sanctuary – May 31, 2011 – This past Saturday Legend’s Burger House was rock’n for crocs. Gino and the Shack Shakers entertained guests while they enjoyed pulled pork and chicken tacos and cocktails under the shade of a Belikin tent. The crocodile conservation display by ACES/ American Crocodile Education Sanctuary was educational as well as entertaining. Visitors marveled over the difference in skull sizes between the freshwater Morelet’s and the saltwater American crocs, and enjoyed watching both a photo gallery of ACES provided by The San Pedro Sun and a fantastically exciting video of ACES’s croc rescues and school visits which was created by Island Films.Children took turns batting at a crocodile piñata made by Vince Rose, ACES croc wrangler and Wildlife Behaviorist, and Vince gave a live demonstration of how one of the croc traps works. After spending hours of preparation to set up the trap earlier that morning, it only took seconds once Vince crawled inside and pulled the bait for the net opening to be pulled tightly shut and raise high up into the tree, successfully capturing Vince. The crowd was impressed and delighted by the demonstration.Tyler Cornell of Legend’s Burger House ingeniously helped ACES raise even more funds by giving away FREE rum drinks with the purchase of every $5 raffle ticket. Then, the raffle winners were drawn and 25 awesome prizes were handed out accordingly. As 6pm neared, people crowded the silent auction table to get in their last bids. As the sun set over the lagoon, silent auction winners were announced by ACES apprentice Chris Summers, and the winners received their prizes as the party dwindled down.

ACES would like to personally thank everyone who donated prizes for the day’s events and everyone that supported the cause by buying tickets or attending the festivities. “We are grateful to the whole community of this very special island. The generosity of everyone, from the band donating their time, to the San Pedro Town Council who permitted free bridge passes to those attending the event this is beyond what I ever could have imagined. We would especially like to thank Tyler Cornell, Jewels Von Rabenau and the staff at Legends Burger House for offering to host this event,” stated ACES Research Biologist Cherie Rose.

ACES will utilize the monies raised to continue building the new Educational Crocodile Eco-Sanctuary in Ladyville. Once the main facility is established and self-sustainable, it will give ACES the freedom to consider implementing a smaller croc sanctuary here on the island. And the biggest success of the fundraiser was that fun was had by all!